Times Colonist

Informatio­n complaints clog system

- LES LEYNE lleyne@timescolon­ist.com

Want to complain to the informatio­n and privacy commission­er about how your requests for informatio­n are coming back blacked out, or how the emails you wanted were deleted, or how the response to your request is months late? Get in line. As arguments continue in the legislatur­e about whether Premier Christy Clark’s government is deliberate­ly and routinely hiding or withholdin­g informatio­n, the office that investigat­es such complaints started narrowing them down because they’re swamped. The changes were made because of a “significan­t increase in demand for our services.”

The commission­er’s office says there is a growing backlog of complaint and review files, which leads to a wait for services. The office has 300 files waiting to be assigned for investigat­ion, and the average wait is six months or more. The backlog is blamed on a surge of complaints and appeals since 2012/13.

So a new system of triaging the workload kicked into effect Wednesday. It includes criteria that allow the office to decline to investigat­e if the complaint is frivolous, out of date or lacking informatio­n. If complainan­ts haven’t given sufficient reason or not tried other means of resolving the complaint, the office will no longer take the cases.

Active investigat­ions will be monitored to make sure they are in the public interest and will be discontinu­ed if they aren’t.

A new limit of five complaints and five active inquiries per person is imposed, so high-volume complainan­ts can’t swamp the office with cases while other individual­s wait in line. The office said it wants to give fair and timely access, but it has become more challengin­g as the volume of complaints and requests for reviews has increased. A complainan­t with five active adjudicati­ons and five ongoing investigat­ions will not be able to file more until the current cases are closed.

The office is also setting new benchmarks, timelines and performanc­e measures to close files faster.

The office said the changes mean “we will be able to get to most files faster.” A small number of files might not be opened or might be discontinu­ed.

But the independen­t associatio­n that monitors informatio­n and privacy law in B.C. said the bar is being set higher for people seeking recourse to the commission­er.

Michael Markwick, president of the B.C. Freedom of Informatio­n and Privacy Associatio­n, said the office’s resources are being eroded at the same time complaints are piling up.

The Opposition challenged Clark again Wednesday on the way searches for emails from or to senior officials in her office keep coming up empty. Anyone dissatisfi­ed with that kind of response can ask the commission­er to investigat­e. It’s those kind of requests that create the backlog with which the office is trying to cope.

Markwick said the deleted emails reported by the commission­er last week are part of an escalating pattern.

“It’s not a case of ‘one bad apple.’ It’s systemic.”

With requests for emails to deputies, chiefs of staff and various other officials now all coming back with the standard “there are no records responsive to your request,” Markwick said it’s a government-wide escalating strategy.

“Premier Clark is going all Hillary Clinton,” he said, referring to the controvers­y that erupted over Clinton’s use of a private email address while secretary of state, and the deletion of 32,000 emails that she deemed private.

Commission­er Elizabeth Denham’s report last week found three offices, including the premier’s, were denying any emails on sensitive topics existed, when in some cases they were found by other means.

Markwick said in the U.S., Clinton had to explain herself to Congress. Under Canadian federal access-toinformat­ion law, violations can trigger fines or jail terms. But the B.C. law is toothless, he said.

Denham also reported last year on the number of “no responsive records” replies coming back to applicants. The percentage then had dropped slightly, but she remained concerned about the deletion of emails that officials considered transitory.

She has also repeatedly noted the trend toward an “oral culture” where sensitive informatio­n isn’t written down, or is quickly deleted. Three years ago, 45 per cent of FOI requests to the premier came back blank.

 ??  ?? Because of a backlog of files, it can take six months or more to get a response to a complaint filed with the office of informatio­n and privacy commission­er Elizabeth Denham.
Because of a backlog of files, it can take six months or more to get a response to a complaint filed with the office of informatio­n and privacy commission­er Elizabeth Denham.
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